Project KIDS, a partnership started last year between the School of Graduate Medical Education’s Department of Speech-Language Pathology and the Irvington Board of Education, is continuing to expand. Funded by the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, 22 first-year graduate speech-language pathology students participated in a clinical practicum providing speech, language and hearing screenings, diagnostic services and intervention to 102 preschool children at risk for developmental delays.

Under the supervision of faculty members, Theresa Cardillo, MA, CCC-SLP, Vikram Dayalu, PhD, CCC-SLP and Deborah Welling, AUD, CCC-A, students integrated learned skills into practice by identifying 48 children for speech-language intervention, 14 children for medical treatment of middle ear difficulties, four children with possible audiological deficits and four children needing Irvington Child Study Team evaluations.

Project KIDS continues to receive funding and support from many organizations. In addition to the grant from the Foundation, PNC Bank committed to the project by granting $20,000 in scholarship money to three speech-language pathology graduate students who will engage in their first year of professional employment in Irvington. Professor Cardillo and Dr. Dayalu have also received a $3,000 stipend from the Center for Community Research and Engagement to support a student research component in conjunction with Project KIDS. The program is currently seeking second-year funding from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey that will include collaboration with the School’s Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy departments.

Faculty members will continue to advance Project KIDS by using their expertise. Genevieve Pinto-Zipp, PT, EdD and Valerie Olson, PT, PhD, faculty member in the Department of Graduate Programs in Health Sciences will provide age-appropriate gross motor evaluation and enrichment services to students to promote future positive participation in their kindergarten program. Elizabeth Torcivia, Ph.D., OTR and Meryl Picard, MSW, OTR, faculty members from the Department of Occupational Therapy, will collaborate with the program in supporting the Irvington facility’s teaching staff in addressing sensorimotor development, including motor skills and sensory processing ability.